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Lloyd Wright was able to build this house because he had a rich patron who didn't care whether the roof leaked, the cantilevered slabs sagged, and the house was full of mildew all the time.
Much as I enjoy looking at the Lloyd Wright houses, as actual practical houses many of them are abject failures.
pretty much looks just like my house and probably like Wright, I just didn't bother with taking out any permits since its in the woods and stuff
my house, my picture
Ghengis, that's a picture of Falling Water, the stairs descending to the creek. Are you saying that it's your picture of Falling Water, or did you actually replicate the house, right down to the pattern of the stones in the creek?
Ghengis, that's a picture of Falling Water, the stairs descending to the creek. Are you saying that it's your picture of Falling Water, or did you actually replicate the house, right down to the pattern of the stones in the creek?
Ghengis, that's a picture of Falling Water, the stairs descending to the creek. Are you saying that it's your picture of Falling Water, or did you actually replicate the house, right down to the pattern of the stones in the creek?
Building codes and regs were different back then. That said you can still do it in certain states and jurisdictions. Alot depends on your location and the amount of work you have to put in. A guy here in CT which is highly regulated managed to basically build his house on an artificial island in the middle of a pond a few years back so I would assume it could be done.
Lloyd Wright was able to build this house because he had a rich patron who didn't care whether the roof leaked, the cantilevered slabs sagged, and the house was full of mildew all the time.
Much as I enjoy looking at the Lloyd Wright houses, as actual practical houses many of them are abject failures.
And everything is 'Human sized' (if you are 5'7") The stairs are narrow and steep (wouldn't meet modern building codes) I've toured FW twice. The first time the docent was reasonable and mentioned many of the issues/problems. The second time when I mentioned the short beds I suggested that asd an architect FLW did a pour job of incorporating the clients needs into the house (The client was over 6' and could not comfortably sleep in the bed) the Docent looked like I had said that Jesus was a pedophile!
I agree FLW had an incredible sense of design but a terrible sense of practicality and customer relations. But keep in mind this house was designed before WWII. You just can't compare it to today's houses, or even post war houses of the 50s.
I agree FLW had an incredible sense of design but a terrible sense of practicality and customer relations. But keep in mind this house was designed before WWII. You just can't compare it to today's houses, or even post war houses of the 50s.
Era doesn't matter.
A 100 year old Cape Cod cottage is far more practical and usable than something like Fallingwater, although it is unremarkable in appearance. For the area where they are built, the Northeast, all the features of the Cape Cod cottage work well: high pitched roofs will shed copious rain and snow even when wooden shingles deteriorate; small bedrooms upstairs where the heat rises to are kept warm more easily; centrally located fireplace heats the entire house.
No, the problem is that Lloyd Wright saw his buildings as works of art, and discounted the need for them to function under actual conditions. Because he built such beautiful buildings, he was able to get rich clients to subsidize him and disregard the ways the buildings didn't work in the actual practical world.
In an alternate universe, there might have been some following generations of architects who expanded on Lloyd Wright's methods and concepts while adding practicality and affordability, but unfortunately that didn't happen by and large, and instead American housing has gone (aesthetically) down and down and down.
There's a Frank Lloyd Wright house here locally. One of the local media outlets did a story on it a couple of years ago. The current owner at the time of the story had retrofitted shower heads over the claw foot bath tubs - Wright thought that taking a bath was civilized and that showering was uncouth, so he refused to put any showers in the house.
IMO, Wright designed houses for his own sense of aesthetic, other people paid for the privilege of having Wright provide the design; they wanted to build and live in a house designed by one of the premiere architects of the day, design idiosyncrasies and engineering flaws be damned.
A 100 year old Cape Cod cottage is far more practical and usable than something like Fallingwater, although it is unremarkable in appearance. For the area where they are built, the Northeast, all the features of the Cape Cod cottage work well: high pitched roofs will shed copious rain and snow even when wooden shingles deteriorate; small bedrooms upstairs where the heat rises to are kept warm more easily; centrally located fireplace heats the entire house.
No, the problem is that Lloyd Wright saw his buildings as works of art, and discounted the need for them to function under actual conditions. Because he built such beautiful buildings, he was able to get rich clients to subsidize him and disregard the ways the buildings didn't work in the actual practical world.
In an alternate universe, there might have been some following generations of architects who expanded on Lloyd Wright's methods and concepts while adding practicality and affordability, but unfortunately that didn't happen by and large, and instead American housing has gone (aesthetically) down and down and down.
Some of houses could be better built with modern materials and methods than when he tried them originally. Would not be cheap (not like his houses were before) but you can actually do things now and expect them to last that were once crazy.
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That is a very interesting question...
